


Mud-stained Cardigan

by AevumAce



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dianakko Week, Dianakko Week 2020, F/F, Missing Persons, Mystery, luna nova and appleton are the same school, magic still exists but its hidden from common knowledge, the girls aren't witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:02:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26176912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AevumAce/pseuds/AevumAce
Summary: Blytonbury was supposed to be a normal and relatively safe town, but ever since a girl from Akko’s school mysteriously disappeared, the town has been restless.Dianakko Week 2020 Day 7: Free Day
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	Mud-stained Cardigan

The news was disturbing. Akko preferred having dinner with her family without the TV blaring in the background.

_"A real estate agent found a dead body when she opened the back door of an empty house to air it out before her clients arrived. The man appeared to be in his mid-thirties, blond, with no tattoos or any identification to help identify him."_

News about blood, violence, and death made her uncomfortable. It would also ruin her appetite, but Akko didn't speak her concerns.

"Sheesh," Akko's mother couldn't help but comment. "I thought Blytonbury was a safe town! Ever since that girl from Akko's school disappeared a year ago, the amount of crimes has doubled."

The mere mention of 'that girl' made Akko's stomach crumble. That girl wasn't just any girl. It was Diana Cavendish. They first started as rivals before they ended up becoming friends. Everything changed that one fateful night when Diana suddenly disappeared.

Akko stayed silent. As much as she wanted to speak, she chose to stuff her mouth with more rice and tofu. The particular news of a dead man wouldn't leave her. Intrigued, she couldn't help but search for more details before going to bed.

_"The police released a description and pleaded for information, but nobody came forward. They didn't even know how he had gotten to Blytonbury, much less how or why he had ended up dead in the yard of a foreclosed house. There wasn't a mark on him. The medical examiner blamed the death on a heart attack, but the unusual circumstances of where he was found made them suspicious."_

They were talking about the grave next to him. There was a hole in the backyard of that empty house. They found hair, blood, fibers in that hole, but everything was too degraded for identification purposes.

Akko bit her inner cheek. It sounded as though he was digging for something but died halfway.

But what was he digging? His own grave? Now that's deeply disturbing.

Akko couldn't sleep that night. Memories of the last year sprung up to haunt her.

The night Diana disappeared was chilly and clear. She remembered dancing with her boyfriend, Andrew. Akko remembered joking with Diana along with the rest of their friends, Akko remembered laughing as they dodged water balloons that Amanda randomly threw about. Everything was laughter and light and fun. There was nothing before them but their last summer of high school stretching long and open.

Later, Akko would recoil and Diana's face would sting red where Akko had slapped her. Soon after that, Diana left alone that night.

She never got home. She never got found.

Akko did remember much of the year in between. She remembered the police, the searches, the interviews, and the headlines: CAVENDISH HEIRESS MISSING.

She read the articles: _"Diana Cavendish, 17, was reported missing by her aunt - Daryl Cavendish - after she failed to return home from a local Spring Formal on Saturday night."_

Akko remembered the interviews, the speculation, the online comments, and the inevitable school assembly. The police found Diana's phone in the lavatory at school so that was a dead lead. The online comments, in the beginning, had all been suggestions, opinions, and worries. There were even predictions that other girls would go missing soon.

From that moment on, the school started focusing on teaching their students as much as they could on self-defense. Fighting back and protect themselves from assailants.

She remembered the Cavendish family giving press conferences, Daryl in the middle, and her daughters beside her. They cried while their mother held Diana's picture and pleaded the public for any information. Akko remembered that picture appearing every night on the news.

There were search parties, posters stapled up around town, posts, and shares in social media. She remembered the police dogs barking and tugging through the neighborhood.

But they had no chance of finding Diana.

"Diana..." Akko whispered. Saying it aloud felt like a spark of electricity, quick but painful for the moment it lasted. She brought the palm that had slapped Diana close to her heart, faintly feeling the stinging pain she inflicted on her. "I'm sorry, it's my fault."

* * *

**_The town_** was slow to wake, and surprisingly Akko wasn't. She laid there for a few moments, thoughts spiraling to the past. She grabbed her phone and scrolled the posts to see if there was anything new about the search.

The recent comments on the page had been memories, pictures, and unsurprisingly, insults, and rumors.

One suggested Diana might have run away with an older boyfriend, another proposed that Diana might have gotten pregnant at the party and ran away in shame.

_No, they were all wrong. Nobody knows why she ran away on that night. Except for Akko._

She heard a rumor back in Sophomore year when her rivalry with Diana ended and they were getting closer as friends. It came from Amanda, something about Diana being a lesbian.

That's why she didn't entertain the boys fawning over her. Most especially Louis Blackwell, who sent her flowers and love letters whenever he got the chance. But Akko had a feeling that Diana's avoidance of Louis' advancements was well-warranted. The boy thought of himself as powerful, but also untouchable. He thinks can get whatever he wants just because his father is a very important man in the political world. An annoying, and yet a very precarious case of entitlement.

Akko didn't believe the rumor and wanted the answers to remove all the speculations within herself. The next day, she saw Diana alone in the hallway, Akko took that as a great time to ask her when Andrew distracted her, confessing on the spot and asking her to become his girlfriend.

Due to the overwhelming excitement where a pretty rich boy liked her, Akko accepted his feelings. In the next months that came, Andrew asked her to change her homeroom. She obliged. Who wouldn't want to spend more time with someone they are dating?

Ever since they got together, they were joined at the hip.

As a result, Akko never got to ask Diana if the rumors were true.

Akko returned to the present as her recent flashback ended. Reading through those comments felt like reading someone else's life. Another version of Diana who suffered the hatred of people she had never even met. Diana Cavendish was a beloved student, a beloved friend. But the mean comments suggested otherwise. It didn't sound like Diana Cavendish. The social media posts now looked like it's talking about an imaginary girl overshadowing the real one.

Bracing herself for another day of Senior year, she's busy drying her hair after a short shower when she thought she heard a rumble of skateboard wheels on pavement coming from outside.

The Kagari's live in the last house of the neighborhood at the end of the road and their neighbors didn't have kids who love to skateboard. So whoever was out there, they unlikely went right outside their house just to practice skating when the nearby park was a better option.

Akko saw the ambiguous silhouette standing over the sidewalk across the street and they seemed to be staring right at her. With a frown, Akko reached for the curtains in her bedroom window and took a peek.

Nobody was out there.

The skateboarder was fast and easily escaped her sight. The wind was cold though. Akko was about to wear a cardigan over her uniform but realized that her old cardigan was gone. She had lent it to Diana that night because she mentioned she was getting cold.

And now, like Diana, the cardigan was gone. It was one of her favorites. Gone forever along with her favorite person in the world.

When she came downstairs to eat breakfast, her father was busy fixing a broken clock while her mother was still making rice balls to pack for lunch. Akko headed straight to the table and ate the breakfast laid out for her. The TV was on and the news was blaring once more in the background.

The broadcaster was talking about how beautiful the sunny morning in Britain was before he got interrupted. _"This just in,"_ his face went bleak and serious. _"Two hours ago, the son of the Minister of Defense, a student in Blytonbury died of a heart attack in bed. The 17-year-old didn't have any signs or records of heart disease, nor were there any genetic— "_

"I have a bad feeling about all this bad news." Akko's father mused, his voice louder than the broadcaster.

Akko could feel his eyes on her but she didn't want to meet his eyes. It became inevitable when he reached out and laid a hand at her shoulder.

"Please be extra careful when you're out there, Akko."

She gulped a piece of apple she was chewing on. "Yes, father."

* * *

**_Two months_** passed since they found the dead man near a grave and the unexpected death of Louis Blackwell. And within that month, people who were convicted killers got out of prison, and suspects of murders dropped dead with no warning within a two-mile radius of Akko's home.

Akko wasn't at all concerned, especially when the skateboarder who kept hanging out outside of Akko's house disappeared.

Today was supposed to be another day – a day that will go by in the same vague fashion. Akko's mind went a trip down memory lane instead. Physically she's in school, taking her classes, but mentally she was back to the day the night Diana disappeared.

There should have been something significant about that day. Something ominous. A sign, in retrospect, that it was the last day anyone would ever see Diana. But there wasn't. It was an ordinary day. Alright, it wasn't that ordinary. The school was having a dance. But as far as school dances go, that usually was ordinary.

Diana, despite being in the student council, helped plan this event and she promised to hang out with Akko and the others. Akko looked forward to that. Her favorite song started playing and Andrew took that as a cue to invite her to the dance floor. She let him lead her.

In between dancing, drinking punch, and taking wacky pictures with her friends with their phones and in the photo booth, Akko waited for Diana to join them.

However, Diana was nowhere near the dance floor because she hated crowds. She was busy helping Professor Chariot chaperoning for whatever reason.

Akko kept a close watch on her. She made her way towards Diana when she saw her heading for the girl's lavatory.

"Hey, Diana!"

The girl had been scrolling through her phone and was surprised to see Akko, despite already knowing she's the type of girl who just bursts through doors unannounced and without any warning. It had been a long time since they were alone together. Akko missed her terribly and wanted to catch up with her.

"Where have you been? Don't be a stranger!" Akko said, approaching her.

Diana chuckled, her eyes darting around. "Sorry, I was just cold."

"You are?" Akko piped up. Judging by how Diana was red, she released the cardigan around her shoulders. "Here, you can use this!"

"But Akko," she murmured, her eyes trailing along the exposed skin on Akko's shoulders.

"I insist! I don't feel cold at all."

With a sigh, Diana relented. "Then I suppose, a thank you is in order."

"I know we haven't been friends that long," Akko grinned, eager to fill the awkward silence with something. "But I'd like to invite you to my 17th birthday party. Nothing special though, just a celebration in my mom's garden."

Diana let out a peal of laughter at Akko's awkward invitation. "Oh, Akko... it would be an honor! I would love to go."

"Great! I look forward to seeing you." A sudden metaphorical lightbulb lit above her head as she fished for her phone in her purse. "Let's take a picture! To commemorate our first full year of being friends."

"Alright," she said, a bit flustered.

"Smile!" Akko hooked her arm around Diana's neck and they both put on big, stupid grins for the camera.

If Akko thought about it, closed her eyes, and remembered, she could still feel the heat of Diana's face when she leaned close. She could see how red Diana's face was, could feel her arm around Diana's neck, across the back of Diana's shoulders, and count the seconds she let it linger.

They got a few photos in when she noticed Diana's gaze hadn't left her. Her old rival stared at her with a strange look, but despite everything, Diana looked cute with that blush warming her cheeks. Akko was about to compliment her lovely shade when Diana leaned in all of a sudden and kissed her. Her lips were warm, sticky with gum-flavored gloss.

Akko was stunned, the smell of vanilla and mint wafted through her nose. Her brain scrambled to process what just occurred. Holy shit! Diana Cavendish was kissing her.

"What the hell?" she yelled while pulling away, and in reflex slapped Diana.

The sound rang in the air, her hand leaving a red smudge on Diana's cheek. She regretted it as soon as it happened.

Diana went rigid, and her eyes flew open, obviously hurt. An iPhone dropped on the floor, the screen shattering from the impact. Instead of picking it up, her attention lingered more on what she did. Her fingers eased the pain in her cheeks.

"Oh crap!" Feeling guilty, Akko reached out. "Diana?"

The look Diana wore was raw. An emotion Akko never thought she'd see in her blue eyes.

Akko didn't mean to reject her like that. She was just startled. Feelings she hadn't known existed surfaced, and she had to remind herself she's dating Andrew. She didn't want to be the girl who cheated on someone. She was about to apologize when tears formed in Diana's eyes.

Startled with a stinging physical and emotional pain, Diana couldn't face her and left.

When the girl ran away, Akko didn't run after her. The hand that struck Diana's cheek clutched the void she created in her heart.

With a surge of adrenaline, Akko sauntered outside the lavatory in search of the most popular girl in school. She could have found her, she could stop the bad thing that was about to happen, but Andrew caught her. He told her he was looking all over for her, and he encouraged her to have another dance.

Akko wanted to decline. She needed to find Diana. But Andrew was persistent, and Akko didn't refuse enough. Andrew brought her once more to the dance floor. This time, it's a slow romantic song.

This was probably fine. Diana might need space, and Akko needed to be in the right mindset to talk to her. To explain that the slap was more of a reflex when startled. She wanted to tell her she didn't hate the kiss at all, but she couldn't act on her feelings because she's taken. But that doesn't mean she didn't want to be Diana's friend anymore.

Talking to Diana can wait. Surely Diana will still be there.

Akko couldn't be any more wrong.

That was the last time she saw her. Ever.

Akko broke up with Andrew a month after Diana's disappearance. She went into a spiral, blamed herself for leading her to the path of her disappearance, earned herself insomnia and depression.

What if Diana did run away? All because she dared to be brave?

What if something bad happened to Diana? What if it was Akko's fault all along?

Andrew couldn't understand her, won't even try to. His attempts of making her feel better created more problems than ease. The last straw was when Andrew suggested that Diana might have been kidnapped or killed because she showed some skin in her Spring Formal dress and got what she deserved for being a bitch.

Akko didn't regret breaking up with him one bit.

What if she kissed back? What if she didn't slap her? What if she didn't go out with Andrew?

What if she told Andrew no when he asked her to dance again?

Diana lingered in her life, haunting her every day. Whenever a blonde caught the corner of her eye, she'd turn around to take another closer look. She's seeing Diana's name in every crack, chasing shadows and dead ends.

Akko headed out to the nearest park after school. The walk was quiet. The pavement was cool beneath her feet, shrubs would softly tickle her ankles. She wanted to walk near plants. Being near them was soothing. She cut through the grass, leaped over hedges and small fences. Akko was standing at the edge of the cobblestones, trying to decide if she could jump the flower bed into the next yard over when she heard the rolling of skateboards once more.

She shifted, eyes scanning the scene. There were a couple of kids riding their bikes, a few people walking here and there, even an old woman feeding some pigeons. The hair on the back of Akko's neck stood. After much deliberation, she decided to head home.

The front door was locked. Her mother was probably out shopping for dinner. Somewhere nearby, neighbor dogs were barking, angry, and insistent.

Akko realized she had been hearing them for some time. She crossed the lawn, fumbled at the gate, pushed it open. Since she didn't have keys on the front door, she entered the backyard of their two-story house and grabbed the spare key under the mat in their back door. There was no light coming through the back door or any of the windows.

She headed towards her room and laid down for a short nap in her bed, enjoying a few moments of peace. Better start with homework, she thought and pushed her upper body to sit when she caught something in the corner of her eye.

Outside her window, a silhouette watched her from across the street, the same spot from this morning. Akko huffed, she's not afraid of some damn skateboarder stalking her. She grabbed a tennis racket and went out to their home's front door.

As soon as she swung the door open, her jaw dropped. Standing there in her front porch line was a person she hadn't known would come back.

"Hey Akko," she greeted with the same smile.

Akko blinked. Disbelief and confusion muddled her mind _._ Then she inhaled, fully digesting the sight before her.

The stranger had a backpack hooked around one arm, skateboard at her feet, her eyes hidden behind a pair of pink heart-shaped sunglasses. The girl groaned, before removing her sunglasses to reveal her blue eyes.

Diana Cavendish.

The girl who was missing for a year was there. Just six feet away from her. She wasn't wearing the Spring Formal dress anymore, but rather, looking great in a vintage tee, Levi pants, and the same cardigan she lent her but it was mud-stained. The stranger thing was, there were hand marks around Diana's neck.

"Diana?" she stammered.

"I've been thinking a lot... I wanted to know how you would react when I show up." Diana stared at her, observing, waiting. "Will it be a homecoming, a pang of revulsion, or a burst of anger?"

Akko's throat constricted. Speechless, and unable to move her jaw muscles. It took a while before she managed to. "What happened to you? Where were you?"

Instead of answering her, the girl sighed. "You look like a wreck, Akko."

That was an understatement and Akko knew it. The dark circles in Akko's eyes were deep and dark, she had gotten thinner, she hadn't had the usual spark of brilliance and child-like wonder in her for a long time.

"Speak for yourself," Akko said, eyeing the ugly bruises in the shape of hand marks around Diana's neck. "What are... what happened..."

She couldn't even finish her inquiry.

"Nobody noticed me leaving," Diana said with finality, harboring a rekindled resentment. "That's what they all said. A few people did see me leave the dance, but I guess they were too preoccupied. The truth was, I attempted to walk home alone."

Akko's heart skipped to her throat. "In the middle of the night?!" she yelled.

"I know, it was stupid." The girl chuckled, but there wasn't any humor in it. "There I was walking home, heels on broken cobblestones, thinking of you when Louis Blackwell pulled up and asked me if I needed a ride home. I said no. I said I was fine. I kept walking, but he followed me. Nobody saw him. Nobody was watching. The cops never talked to him. I remember telling him to leave me alone. I remember that he grabbed my arm. I remember that he shoved me and I stumbled into a car and I hit my head on the window. I remember shouting for help or trying to. I felt dizzy and nauseous, and the pressure of his hand on my mouth, his fingers on my neck, his babbling, his panicked plea for me to keep quiet because somebody might hear. I don't remember the snap of my hyoid bone. I don't remember my trachea collapsing under the pressure of his hands. He shouldn't have been strong enough, but he was angry and scared. I don't remember the blood vessels in my eyes rupturing. It only takes a few seconds for a person to lose consciousness from strangulation. I don't remember anything after that."

"You... you..." Akko couldn't bear to finish her sentence.

"I died, yes."

Akko felt like she was out of breath, still refusing to believe that it was true. "But... how… where?"

"Haven't you been catching up on the news, Akko?" she asked, having the gall to be sarcastic.

Her jaw dropped. Akko took a step back as she brought a hand over to her mouth. "The... the hole the dead man was digging?"

Diana nodded. "The dogs never had a chance. I wasn't decaying, so there was no corpse smell for them to follow. But I wasn't myself anymore either. All that effort, all that searching, and nobody once looked in the backyard of that foreclosed house just a few blocks from the academy. I was only buried beneath eighteen inches of soil. A whole year and nobody had noticed. People must have come through that house, potential buyers standing at the glass door, looking across the cracked cement porch and brown grass, talking about how much space there was for entertaining, for kids to play, it just needed a little bit of work, a little bit of landscaping. They must have looked right over me, right over the disturbed ground where somebody had dug a grave, but not a very deep one."

"Diana... I'm sorry."

She arched a skinny brow. "Whatever for Akko?"

"For not telling the cops why you left that night. If I told them… they would have found out what happened sooner! And most especially, I'm sorry... Diana... I... I was afraid."

"I killed them, you know." Her fingers gripped the strap on her shoulder. "That man who dug me out? The boy who killed me and buried me in the first place? They got what they deserved. By taking my life and desecrating my dead body."

Akko wanted to argue with her, but she couldn't. She couldn't fault Diana for being angry. She couldn't fault that as soon as she rose from the dead, all she can think about was revenge. The protest was dust on her tongue. "Are... are you going to kill me?"

A frown settled on Diana's still gorgeous face. "Whatever gave you that idea? The only thing I want to do is make it up to you. I missed your 17th birthday."

"God, Diana! It wasn't your fault!"

"It is. If I didn't run off like that, I would still be living and breathing."

"But I truly am... I'm so sorry... how are you a..." Akko couldn't finish the question, but it seemed Diana understood.

"I have no idea," she shrugged. "I woke in the dark, choked on a mouthful of mud, and I panicked. I clawed my way through the soil until I found air, and there was a pair of hands, scooping the dirt away from my face. I accidentally killed him. I don't know what he was. I don't have any answers... I—" Diana took a lungful of air. "I was not certain how I did it. I just didn't want him touching me. I grabbed his wrists, and I pulled. My mind was blank with fear. Everything was wrong, twisted, and nauseating. There was something foul in him I wanted to destroy, a dark quivering thread stretched taut between us, and I broke it. He died."

"You mean... all those unexplained kills in Blytonbury? That was you?"

"I didn't mean to. I was minding my own business. They were after me. They thought I was weak and alone and they wanted to do awful things to me."

Akko nodded. It was understandable.

"Compared to the others, the first was an accident. When he died, my heart, limp and lifeless, began to beat again. I can identify killers on sight. The foul-smelling shadow of death clings to them. I didn't know why or how exactly, but I can only kill killers. If there's no shadow of death hovering over them, I can't pull and snap anything."

Akko nodded numbly. "Does... does that mean you're alive?"

"Not really, I tried killing myself over and over, but it doesn't work. I heal every time. But it hurts. Stabbing, falling down a cliff, getting hit by a car, burning, gunshots, decapitation? All failed. Breathing is a conscious decision but not necessary. I can't even drown."

"Do you need to eat anything? My brain maybe?"

Diana rolled her eyes. "No, I don't find you appetizing at all."

"Oh. Good to hear." A smile wormed its way on Akko's lips. Diana was only a reanimated corpse for a few months and she hasn't run out of zombie jokes. "Why didn't you go home?"

"I did," she said. "Right after I woke up. Nobody was home. Aunt Daryl and my cousins were busy with their jobs because they got hit hard the most after my disappearance. The servants all took a vacation. They were all mourning and trying to move on. So I left. What was I supposed to tell them anyway? 'So, this happened and I'm not human anymore.' I can't take over the family business unless I accidentally expose the hidden world of the supernatural. I even have to hide from monster bounty hunters and religious cults. Becoming a doctor is out of the question. People will notice that I'm a corpse, and I don't know how this works, but I rather not let sick people get infected by whatever I have. I can never go back."

It was tough. Diana had her whole life planned. A whole life ahead of her. She was following a strict schedule for her to be able to inherit the chains of hospitals and clinics the Cavendish owned. She pretty much knew what she was going to do, save millions of people, and contribute her findings to the world. Now she's nothing but a hermit, a wanderer, a lost potential.

Akko didn't try to answer. "I'm sorry."

"You say sorry too much," Diana replied, smiling sadly.

"I'm so—" she slapped her cheeks to stop herself. "So, with this too much time in your hands, how do you spend your days now?"

"I've been here and there. I met witches and creatures."

"Witches?"

Diana nodded. "They exist. But they don't know what I am. The closest thing they can categorize me as is a revenant. There's a whole world out there to explore, magic and monsters and a million inexplicable things. I'm going to find them and learn about them."

"Typical Diana. Always studying, always in the pursuit of knowledge."

That caused Diana to giggle. "Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I can't study. What about you? Where are you going after graduation?"

"I don't know," Akko mused as she took languid steps towards Diana, who hitched her breath at her proximity. "There's one thing for sure, I'm glad you came back to me."

There were tears in her eyes, a rough catch in her voice. Akko reached for the same cheek she had slapped a year ago. She expected Diana to recoil, but she didn't. Perhaps she craved her touch, perhaps she desired something alive to hold her, perhaps something got into Diana's brain while she was buried and ate away the amygdala. That's the part of the brain that felt fear, and that could be one of the reasons to explain why Diana was fearless.

The question got answered when Diana leaned into her touch and placed a cold hand over Akko's.

"This isn't goodbye, is it? Slapping you that night, I didn't mean it. I wanted to go after you—"

"Shh," Diana interrupted before Akko went on babbling. "I came back for you, Akko. Did you truly believe I would show up to you to just say goodbye? I don't need sleep at all, don't need to eat, but when I do try to dream, I dreamed of you."

Akko searched her eyes, looking for any hint of insincerity, but knew she would find none. Standing on her tiptoes, Akko placed a hand on the back of Diana's neck and captured her lips in a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> So the idea I had for this fic was Zombie Diana falling in love with Survivor Akko, but I wasn’t that inspired to write an apocalyptic love story. Around 2 am, I got an idea to revise the premise since I am a fan of longing and contemplation in my fics. And of course, a douse of mystery.


End file.
